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Home buyer activity has risen throughout the summer months to more typical levels in Metro Vancouver.

The Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board (REBGV) reports that in August 2019, residential home sales in the region totaled 2,231, a 15.7% increase from the 1,929 sales recorded in August 2018, and a 12.7% decrease from the 2,557 homes sold in July 2019.

Sales last month were 9.2 percent below the average sales in August for 10 years.

“In July and August, home sales returned to a more historically ordinary level than in the first six months of the year.,” said REBGV President Ashley Smith.

At Metro Vancouver in August 2019, there were 3,747 detached, attached and newly listed apartment properties for sale on the Multiple Listing Service ® (MLS ®).This represents a decline of 3.5 percent compared to the 3,881 households mentioned in August 2018 and a decline of 18.8 percent compared to the 4,613 homes mentioned in July 2019.

The total number of homes currently listed on Metro Vancouver’s MLS ® system for sale is 13,396, a 13.3% increase over August 2018 (11,824) and a 5.9% decline over July 2019 (14,240).

For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for August 2019 is 16.7 per cent. By type of property, the percentage for detached homes is 12%, for townhouses 18.4% and for apartments 21.2%.

Analysts generally claim downward pressure on home prices happens when the ratio falls below 12 percent over a continuous period of time, while home prices often experience upward pressure when they exceed 20 percent over several months.

“With more demand from home buyers, the supply of listed households for sale does not accumulate as in the previous year. These modifications create a more balanced market situation,” Smith said.

The composite benchmark cost of the MLS ® Home Price Index for all Metro Vancouver housing properties is presently $993,300. This reflects a decline of 8.3 percent over August 2018 and a decline of 0.2 percent over July 2019.

Detached house sales reached 706 in August 2019, up 24.5% from 567 detached sales in August 2018. For detached homes, the benchmark price is $1,406,700. This represents a decline of 9.8 percent from August 2018 and a decline of 0.7 percent from July 2019.

In August 2019, sales of apartment houses reached 1,116, an increase of 8.9 percent compared to August 2018’s 1,025 sales.A property’s benchmark cost is $654,000. This reflects a decline of 7.4 percent from August 2018 and an increase of 0.1 percent from July 2019.

Attached home sales totaled 409 in August 2019, up 21.4 percent from August 2018’s 337 revenues. A unit’s benchmark cost is $771,000. This represents a decline of 7.8% from August 2018, up 0.2% from July 2019.

The federal agency states in a report that Vancouver’s “evidence of price acceleration” has eased to low, prompting a downsizing as “extremely vulnerable” after 12 successive quarters.

“While home price growth has considerably outstripped rates backed by fundamentals over the previous few years, these imbalances have reduced in various sections of the resale industry through fundamental development and reduced home prices.,” CMHC said in its latest Housing Market Assessment report.

The agency said a moderate degree of vulnerability continues at the domestic level, but imbalances have declined over the previous year between house prices and the basics of the housing market. Some markets like Toronto and Victoria, however, are at greater risk.

Nationally, The inflation-adjusted average cost reduced by 5.6% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2019 from the same period a year previously, CMHC said.

In the previous quarter’s report, CMHC lowered its rating for Canada’s overall housing market from to moderate from high vulnerability – where it had stood for 10 consecutive quarters – as mortgage stress tests introduced last year made it harder for homebuyers to qualify and eased price acceleration.

The recent market forecast by the Canadian Real Estate Association published in June projects that the domestic average cost will drop to about $485,000 by the end of this year, compared to the 4.1% decrease reported in 2018.

Recent statistics from Greater Vancouver’s Real Estate Board showed that a home in Metro Vancouver’s benchmark cost dropped to $998,700 in June, the first time since May 2017 it fell below the $1 million mark.

The Bank of Canada in May also said that housing prices in the key markets of Vancouver and Toronto have cooled, but imbalances in real estate markets are still an important vulnerability for the overall financial system.

The vulnerability assessment of CMHC is based on several criteria including cost acceleration, overvaluation, overbuilding, and overheating. It examines the degree of vulnerability and aims to define housing market imbalances.

Toronto, Hamilton and Victoria continue to be highly vulnerable, but in all three markets, overheating, price speed and overvaluation show signs of decline.

June house sales across Greater Vancouver were the lowest since 2000 because for the first time in two years, the benchmark cost for all households in the region fell below $1 million.

The Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board (REBGV) claims 2,077 homes sold in June, down 14.4 percent year-on-year and down 21.3 percent from this year’s May.

According to the board, sales were also 34.7 percent below the June 10-year average and the 19-year lowest for the month.

The pace of new market listings has slackened, with a 10% fall in new homes added to the market since June 2018, the REBGV said.

However, inventory continued to stack up, with just under 15,000 homes listed for sale — up 25.3 per cent from the same month last year and up a modest 1.9 per cent from May 2019, it said.

As sales continue to soften so, too, do prices.

The benchmark price for all home types was $998,700 in June, the lowest it has been since May 2017, the REBGV said.

For detached homes across the region, the benchmark price was $1,423,500, down 10.9 per cent year over year and 9.2 per cent over three years but up 0.1 per cent from May.

For apartments, the benchmark price was $654,700 in June, down 8.9 per cent year over year and 1.4 per cent from May.

Drilling deeper into numbers shows some wilder swings in pricing.

The benchmark price for a detached home in West Vancouver was down 12.9 per cent from last June. It was also down 13.1 per cent in Richmond, 14 per cent on Vancouver’s west side and 12.6 per cent in South Burnaby.

Condo prices, which have better resisted the cool-down, also saw significant movement in some sub-regions.

The benchmark price of a condo was below $500,000 in Ladner, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam and Tsawwassen and under $600,000 in East Vancouver, Coquitlam, New Westminster and North Vancouver.

The REBGV said the sluggish market means buyers are seeing the most choice in five years but that sellers continue to hold on, hoping for “yesterday’s value for their homes.”

In the first half of 2019, luxury real estate sales flourished in Montreal with property sales jumping over $4 million by triple digits, but continued to decline in Vancouver, a fresh study says.

“Canada’s top-tier real estate markets veered in separate directions,” read a report released Wednesday by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, which tracked the number of condominiums, townhouses and detached homes sold for over $1 million and $4 million in major Canadian cities.

The agency has previously forecast Montreal as an emerging hot stop set to make new records.
In the first half of 2019, property sales in excess of $1 million jumped five percent relative to the same period last year..

Sales of properties over $4 million soared 267 per cent with 11 properties sold. Three such properties were sold in the first half of 2018.

Experts from the agency observed an rise in global buyers — a group that, according to the study, involves new Canadians, permanent residents, and investors as overseas buyers ‘ taxes in Toronto and Vancouver redirected global buyers to Montreal.However, the group still composes “a small percentage of overall top-tier sales activity” in the city, it said.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver’s formerly heated housing market, luxury property sales continued to drop due to fallout from government intervention.

The market continued to bear the burden of tightened mortgage rules, multiple governmental policies and taxes, and hesitant sellers and fickle buyers lacking motivation to commit to transactions,” the report read.
Homes sold for over $1 million fell 33 per cent to 1,308 properties, while homes sold for more than $4 million fell 34 per cent to 73 homes.

Evolving conditions in Vancouver real estate have created opportunities for prospective top-tier real estate buyers to consider housing options previously out of reach,” the report said, adding some potential buyers who were considering condos priced at more than $1 million have likely now shifted their focus to attached or detached homes instead.

Sales of condos over $1 million fell 51 per cent in the first six months of this year from 708 condos sold between January and June 2018 to 349 in the same six months of 2019.

“The continued adjustment of housing prices is expected to renew interest and activity in the future,” the report noted of Vancouver’s single family homes priced over $1 million.

The data relating to real estate on this web site comes in part from the MLS® Reciprocity program of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver or the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. Real estate listings held by participating real estate firms are marked with the MLS® Reciprocity logo and detailed information about the listing includes the name of the listing agent. This representation is based in whole or part on data generated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver or the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy. The materials contained on this page may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver or the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. Listing data last updated 2019-09-15T06:17:03Z.